The Arizona sentinel., 1887-10-01

F his own, and as soon as day had fully lighted up the scene he took prompt measures for putting his scheme to the test We heard him give an order to the engineer and then, before any of us could anticipate what would follow, we found the Muravieff moving for ward at full speed in the direction of the icc-barrier. A few moments later loud crash was heard. as the steamer, shivering from stem to stern, buried herself in the obstruction. The en- zines were at once reversed, and the Muravieff retreated slowly from the cavity which her hull had left in the ice-field; but oh reaching her former position she once more advanced to the attack, these movements being again and again repeated. At first it had seemed the captains purpose to force his way through the barrier-a plan which, had it been entertained, would have abundantly deserved the epithet of foolhardy. Gradually we became aware of the more reasonable LII lhO LlCIllOu LII stCblOh LO- solved upon. In the first place, be it said, the Muravieff was in no danger; iron-sided, otherwise strongly built, she had nothing to fear from rough usage. Her battery of the ice-barrier. moreover, contemplated something much more easy of accomplishment than downright destruction of the obstacle by dint of repeated blows. Il was at least probable that. with fresh masses pressing against the upper side of the field, the ice might start leav- ing the bend once again clear; and what would be more likely to aid such a movement than a series of persistent taps from the prow of the Muravieff.
 The day grew slowly to noon, the afternoon succeeded; at sundown we were still struggling with our foe in front. Slice after slice had bee n cut from the ice mass, now to right and now to left slice after slice, separated from the bank by the broad hull of the steamer, had first fingered near us, and then gone down with the lazy cur rent southward; but after a days work the block was as immovable as ever. while the Muravieff, judging by marks on shore, had not advanced sensibly from her first position. A night of rest followed, and then the Muravieff resumed her attack upon the barrier. Before noon a cOmpan- ion steamer, also laden heavi- ly with merchandise, reached the scene of the block, and was for some time enabled to aid us, though but feebly,in our efforts to push forward. In the afternoon we had succeeded in reaching a patch of extremely thin ice, near the right bank of the river, and there found compara- lively easy pro gress for quarter of a mile. Then came the barrier again. more formidable than ever Night at last fell redly threatening new troubles, above all prophesying the direst enemy that we had encountered yet.
 On the morning of the third day l rose just before sunrise, and found the scene transformed. The thermometer had fallen ten degrees; the Muravief lay motionless, frozen to the barrier. of which she had now become almost part and parcel; all around, every thing not living, was stiff and stark. The nat ural desolateness of the spectacle had taken a new and forbidding aspect in the wan light and frosty air; right and left long stretches of steppe joined their deserts of brown with the sullen hues of the ice field, making a scape of land and river that looked bare as if swept by hurricane. One seemed, in fine, 10 be gazing on petrified world, timeless as well as motionless, when all of a sudden bright ray shot across the scene from the southeastern horizon. A few minutes later round red ball had climbed into sight, and was tipping with fire some of the land marks now so familiar to us: the long, low building with a tower, to our right, not unlike a church; the river cliff above the bend in front; the bluff fianking the steppe-like plains on our left. .-Edmund Nob' in Atlantic.